Address: Belvelly Castle, Cork
House type: 15th century tower house
Contact: Lynch and Co, 021 4270672/3, www.lynchauctioneers.com
Price: €375,000

This must be one of the most intriguing properties to come on the market in recent times and offers the opportunity to join Cork's most exclusive club of just two members at present: Michael Flatley, who has lavished tender loving care on Castle Hyde near Fermoy and Jeremy Irons, who has been equally unstinting in his restoration of Kilcoe Castle in West Cork .

Belvelly Castle, dating from the 15th century, stands on the water's edge, guarding the narrow strait between Fota Island and Great Island, and is approached over the well-known humpback bridge from Fota. It is easily accessible from the city and Cobh.

Included in the sale are architectural plans to convert the castle into three-bedroom home, subject to planning permission. And as a national monument and protected structure, it may be eligible for a number of restoration grants from the county council and other interested bodies. Anyone looking to take it on, could also , of course, take Michael or Jeremy out for a quiet pint to get the lowdown on what is involved.

Belvelly is an excellent example of an Irish tower house, and while it retains a lot of the defensive features of similar types of buildings, it was in fact originally designed as a lordly residence with an eye to comfort. Owned by a number of families in its long history, its most famous lord was the Elizabethan courtier and adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh.

At eighty feet high, it is in a good state of preservation with plenty of original features still in place, such as mullioned windows, battlements, spiral staircase, murder hole, recesses and garderobes.

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